Gators defensive back Marcell Harris has shown up ready to play for the Gators in his best season to date. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/For UAA Communications)
Switch is on for Harris in Florida's Secondary
Saturday, November 26, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
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Gators redshirt junior safety is playing best ball of his career at perfect time.
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A week later, the images and echoes still linger from the final play of Florida's Southeastern Conference East-clinching win at LSU.
There's Derrius Guice with the ball, desperately seeking the end zone. There's 102,000 fans on their feet, their next breath coming when the play is over. There's a pile of humanity at the line of scrimmage, a blur of bright colors under the mid-afternoon sun at Tiger Stadium.
And finally, there's Gators defensive back Marcell Harris and defensive end Jordan Sherit grabbing Guice's legs as he tries to go airborne from the 1-yard line.
"We had a great push from the defensive line. Our linebackers filling [gaps], jumping over guys, shedding the blocks from the fullback and grabbing his legs from the extra pull from Sherit,'' Harris said. "After I heard the ball was out, I'm still on the ground waiting for the referee to tell me, 'get off the ground Marcell, get off the ground.' It was a great feeling to come out on top."
As Florida's game-saving goal-line stand unfolded to set off a celebration for the visitors, former Gators linebacker/safety Mike Harris watched his son make the biggest play of his career from the stands. Marcell came off the edge and teamed with Sherit to prevent Guice from blasting toward the goal line.
With the No. 13-ranked Gators (8-2) set to play at No. 15 Florida State (8-3) tonight in Tallahassee, Marcell's moment triggered memories of Mike's moment in arguably the greatest game in the history of the Florida-Florida State rivalry. Mike Harris during his career at Florida from 1994-97. (File photo)
What most fans remember from Florida's 32-29 win 19 years ago is the Gators, trailing at home to the No. 2-ranked Seminoles, going 80 yards on three plays for the winning score, a drive launched by a 62-yard pass from Doug Johnson to Jacquez Green.
Two plays later Fred Taylor bulled his way into the end zone for the winning score, which stood after Florida linebacker Dwayne Thomas intercepted FSU quarterback Thad Busby with 1:01 remaining.
However, on FSU's previous drive, Florida forced the Seminoles to kick a field goal to extend their lead to 29-25 despite a first-and-goal from UF's 6-yard line. The reason FSU was at the 6 instead of a long Travis Minor touchdown run was a shove from Mike Harris.
"For some odd reason, people remember that more than they remember anything else,'' Harris said this week.
Minor took a pitch to the left from Busby and raced around the corner for what looked like a 42-yard touchdown run until Harris chased him down and shoved him out of bounds. Florida's defense then prevented a touchdown to set up the winning drive for the offense.
Twenty-two-year-old Marcell is too young to remember the play.
But his dad understands what is in store for those Gators on the field last week at LSU on the final play, including Marcell and Sherit.
"Gators fans forever will remember who stopped LSU out there, especially after all the controversy,'' Mike Harris said. "Everybody was on pins and needles."
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Andrea Tate certainly was. Like Marcell's father, his mother was absorbed in the moment.
Marcell considers Andrea his biggest fan and biggest critic. When they talk after each game, Andrea is already critiquing her oldest son's performance and passing along tips to watch in film study for the next game.
Saturday was different. She didn't see that Marcell was involved in stopping Guise on the final play. But she did know it was a physical game until the last play, and one of the most impressive performances by Florida's vaunted defense.
"She asked if I was OK,'' Marcell said of their postgame conversation. "She saw I was playing hard and flying around. She wanted to make sure my body was OK and that I made it out alive."
"I was tuned in,'' Andrea said. "That's one game this is going to go down in history for a long time."
While others might be surprised at Marcell's emergence this season, his mother is not a member of that fan club. She has watched him prepare for this moment since he developed into a top college prospect at Dr. Phillips High in Orlando.
A redshirt junior, Harris is enjoying his best season at Florida. He had a career-high 11 tackles in the win at LSU and now ranks fourth on the team with 46. Harris moved into a more prominent role after the loss of fifth-year senior safety Marcus Maye in the victory over South Carolina two weeks ago.
"Marcell has been a guy since I got here in the spring who has taken great steps, improving as a football player,'' defensive backs coach Torrian Gray said recently. "It's been fun to see his progression."
Gators safety Marcell Harris leads all Gators available to play tonight at FSU in tackles this season with 46. (Photo: Jay Metz/For UAA Communications)
Harris intercepted a pass against the Gamecocks and recorded seven tackles, showing he was more than ready to pick up the slack after the loss of Maye. The Gators will be without another starter in the secondary, Nick Washington, tonight at FSU.
His biggest fan and critic's assessment?
"One thing about Marcell that people don't know, when it comes game time, you get a totally different Marcell,'' said Andrea, a former track and basketball standout at Gainesville Buchholz High who played for current UF track coach Mike Holloway. "You wouldn't expect to see that guy, who if you know of Marcell, become that guy. The switch comes on. You better brace yourself because he's coming to play."
Harris joined the Gators in 2013, the same recruiting class that featured NFL rookies Keanu Neal and Vernon Hargreaves III. Coming off a knee injury his final season of high school, Harris redshirted as a freshman and played primarily on special teams in 2014. A year ago he moved into a reserve spot in the secondary.
The talent was always there. The work ethic, too.
Mike Harris had a stellar career at Florida from 1994-97, but his drive never equaled his son's thirst for the game.
"In the '90s you took a couple of breaks,'' Mike Harris said. "I wanted to be good. He wants to be great. I was OK with being all right. He wants to be one of the best. Everybody doesn't have that mentality. I didn't it. You can see all the work that he has put into it is starting to come out on the field. I can't put into words how proud I am of him."
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Playing in a secondary that features Maye and cornerbacks Teez Tabor and Quincy Wilson, it's easy to be overshadowed. All three are considered future NFL players.
Meanwhile, the 6-foot-1, 213-pound Harris had to wait his turn to shine. He has not disappointed and is showing the same kind of play-making ability as his more celebrated counterparts.
"Cell has come a long way,'' Tabor said. "He's doing big things right now with Maye down. He's stepping in and playing ball. That's the expectation we have in our room, 'play ball.' We call ourselves DBU."
"When you get your opportunity, you have to take it,'' Marcell said. "Injuries happen during the season. That's why there's always competition. Whatever my team needs out of me and my abilities to make a player happen, that's what I'm here to do."
Andrea will be in Tallahassee tonight ready to see what the Gators do next. She'll keep a close eye on the defense as usual, and No. 26 when he's on the field.
It's been that way since he was 6 and started to play the game. She has a message for those surprised by her son's recent play.
Don't be. When she talked to him about the FSU game earlier this week, she noticed his laid-back personality off the field was in hiding.
All he wanted to talk about was the team, the defense, the game and what might be.
"Even through high school, Marcell was not that party guy. He was always training,'' she said. "That's all I know of him. What he's giving right now, what everybody is noticing, that's always been him.
